GOVERNMENT OF MONTENEGRO GENERAL SECRETARIAT GENDER EQUALITY OFFICE

Economic Commission for Europe

Subject: Questionnaire to the Governments on Implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (1995) and the Outcome of the Twenty Third Special Session of the General Assembly (2000)

PART ONE

The Constitution of Montenegro, which has been adopted in 2007, guarantees equal rights for all citizens without discrimination of any kind, and provides the strong base for the introduction of gender equality. The Article 18 of the Constitution assures the equality of women and men and develops the policy of equal opportunities. The Constitution prohibits direct and indirect discrimination of any kind, and provides positive measures not to be considered as discrimination as well.

Guarantees assured by the Constitution of Montenegro are elaborated by series of laws related to labour, employment, pension and invalid insurance, education, health and social protection, protection at work, family relations, and criminal offences.

The Law on Gender Equality has been adopted by the Parliament of Montenegro in July 2007, and represents the first anti-discriminatory law in Montenegro. For the first time in Montenegro the discrimination based on sex is prohibited. The Gender Equality Law establishes the state administration body in charge for the implementation of gender equality policy and that is the Ministry for the Protection of Human and Minority Rights. Aimed at elimination of discrimination based on sex and achievement of gender equality, the Law obliges the state administration bodies, local self-governments, public institutions, public enterprises and other legal entities, in all phases of planning, adopting and implementing decisions, and carrying out the activities, to assess and evaluate the impact of those decisions and activities upon the position of women and men, with the aim of achieving gender equality. The Law emphasizes the role of civil society in overall activities aimed at achievement of gender equality.

The Action Plan for the Achievement of Gender Equality has been adopted in July 2008 (for the period 2008-2012), which represents the framework for the implementation of the gender equality policy and activism of Gender Equality Office and other state

1 administration bodies. The document has been prepared in cooperation with non governmental organisations, and based on international and national legal documents. Action Plan selected the following areas of concern to deal with in the future: European integration; Education; Health; Violence against Women; Economy and Sustainable Development; Politics and Decision-making; Media and Culture, and Institutional Mechanisms for creation and implementation of gender equality policy. National, regional and global experiences were used in the creation of Action Plan. The document envisages the implementers, partners, time framework and budget for each activity. The Ministry for the Protection of Human and Minority Rights, together with the Gender Equality Office, is in charge for the implementation of Action Plan. Councils for the implementation of each area of concern are planned to be formed in order to be able to monitor the implementation in selected areas.

Montenegro is in the process of preparation of the Initial Report on the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).

In order to achieve the defined Millennium Development Goals the Government has prepared and published the first Millennium Development Goals Progress Report in 2004. In the preparation of the Report, the existing strategic documents of the Government of Montenegro have been used, such as the following: Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy, National Action Plan for Children, Economic Reforms Agenda, official reports of the UN Agencies, as well as relevant surveys.

Gender Equality Office of the Government of Montenegro, as one of two national gender mechanisms in Montenegro, since its establishment (March 2003), has undertaken different activities in various areas of concern for the achievement of gender equality and in that way contributed to greater attention towards this issue by the public and media, and raised awareness as well. These activities also resulted in taking into consideration of gender equality while developing different government strategies, action plans and laws as well. Gender equality is incorporated in the National Program of Integration of Montenegro into the European Union for the period 2008-2012, which contains concrete priorities to be undertaken in above mentioned period. The National Strategy for Sustainable Development also contains the segment on gender equality. Action Plan for the Reform of Local Self-Government envisages activities at the local level regarding gender equality, and what is important envisages development of local gender action plans.

Here are some examples of debates and discussions on gender perspectives taken into account. During the drafting of the Constitution in 2006/2007 the Gender Equality Office organised the Regional Conference aimed at developing concrete suggestions what should be incorporated in the Constititution to reflect gender equality. The conference resulted in many public discussions, debates and media attention on this issue and finally the new Montenegrin Constitution incorporated provisions on gender equality described above. The other example was the drafting of the Labour Law in 2008. The Gender Equality Office also contributed to its development from gender perspective. There has

2 been also a lot of debate during couple of previous years on the incorporation of quota system for less represented sex in the Electoral Law but yet the Law still doesn't reflect this.

The cooperation with NGOs and civil society as a whole has been established as well. Many activities have been organised jointly aimed at promotion of gender equality in various sector areas. In order to enhance the cooperation with civil society and provide the exchange of information and activities undertaken in this regard on a regular basis, the Gender Equality Office is launching the first Forum for the dialogue with the civil society in gender equality field, and the first meeting will take place in March 2009. The plan is to organise three meetings a year and discuss actual issues and plan joint activities. These meetings will be consequently divided into few working groups on sector areas covered by the Action Plan for the Achievement of Gender Equality.

As for the issue of engaging men and boys in elimination of violence against women the Gender Equality Office of the Government of Montenegro, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), the Foundation Open Society Institute, Representative Office Montenegro (FOSI ROM) and the United Nations Country Team in Montenegro (UNCT) organized the campaign “16 days campaign against violence” in Montenegro, which took place in the period 25 November to 10 December 2008. The campaign was supported by the Montenegro Waterpolo and Swimming Federation, the Montenegro Basketball Federation, the Montenegro Volleyball Federation and the Montenegro Football Federation. We had two promoters of the Campaign Mr. Igor Kolakovic, trainer of the Volleyball Team Buducnost and Mr. Petar Porobic, selector of Waterpolo Montenegro Representation. This campaign invited men to be part of the solution by teaching the next generation that violence is always wrong. The campaign targeted men – whether fathers, coaches, teachers, uncles, brothers or mentors – who spend time with pre-teen and teenage boys. The campaign included the distribution of posters and billboards in all Montenegrin municipalities, broadcast of TV spot and radio jingles, promotion of the campaign at all sport event in Montenegro during this period, thematic media shows in electronic and printed media etc. The Campaign was very well accepted in the public, and media provided a space for talking about this isssue. The plan is to continue this campaign in 2009 too.

PART TWO

In the area of human rights of women:

The Gender Equality Office of the Government of Montenegro, from its founding in 2003, and non governmental organisations dealing with this issue worked a lot on permanent education of both public and employers in the state administration on human rights issues and gender equality. Special trainings for civil servants have been organised in cooperation with UNDP Montenegro. In that way, many projects have been undertaken targeted to the promotion of the rights of women in economy, politics, sport, culture, education, family, rights of disabled women, refugee and displaced women, as well as the rights of Roma women.

3 In cooperation with UNDP Montenegro, Gender equality Office trained ten trainers for gender equality, who are permanently working with the Office and train different target groups on human rights of women and gender equality.

In the area of women and health: According to the current laws on health protection and health insurance, the special protection of women related to family planning, pregnancy, giving birth and maternity is provided.

Aiming to enhance the knowledge on women and health among different stakeholders, the Governmental Gender Equality Office organised conferences on gender equality and health issues with special emphasis on the early detection of cancer. International Health Day was marked several times during past years, with media campaign wishing to provoke the attention of the public on the linkage of women's health and violence against women. The Office issued many publications in cooperation with the association of women suffering from rheumatic diseases, by which we made their problems visible and gave advice for its prevention.

Among the main goals of the Strategy for Advancement of Reproductive Health in Montenegro from 2005, it is stated that the aim is to provide all the citizens with the improvement of health in the field of reproductive health, including sexual health and decrease the differences and inequalities in reproductive health.

The Health centers of Montenegro have strengthened the activities regarding the raising awareness of women on reproductive rights, regular controls and in particular information on early detection of cancer. For example, Health Center in Danilovgrad issued the educative booklet »Early detection of breast cancer« which was distributed to all women in this municipality althother with the call for preventive control of breasts. Beside health institutions, the booklet was distributed to other institutions such as primary and secondary schools and Police Academy. It is expected that all other municipalities follow the example of positive practice in Danilovgrad, and in this regard there are initiatives from the capital Podgorica to implement such an activity. Even though women make the majority of employed in the health (73.2%) they are in absolute minority at decision making positions in this area.

According to the data obtained in the research “Social status and quality of the life of women and men” 1 related to health, it can be concluded that men more frequently describe their health as excellent and rarely describe it as bad like women do. Women more frequently report chronic diseases than men, while 46% of women and 51% of men go to see the doctor only when they are sick. More educated women frequently go to see the doctor than less educated women. 48% of rural women go to see the doctor “only when they are sick” and even 54% of women in suburbs unlike 37% of women living in town do that. 16% of women regularly go to see the doctor and 28% from time to time. Even 43% of rural women against 28% of urban women have never seen the

1 Research carried out in 2007 for the Gender Equality Office, by the Research Center Altera MB

4 gynecologist. The research showed that women smoke and drink alcohol less than men but women frequently use sedatives. Women go in for sports less than men (22% of men and 12% of women), which shows that women don’t have time and the habit to do the recreation. When we speak about the usage of contraceptives the research showed that only 32% of women against 44% of men use the contraceptives. These medicines are frequently used by middle aged women (40%). 17% of rural women use contraceptives.

In the area of violence against women Domestic violence is a criminal offence according to the Criminal Code of the Republic of Montenegro which has been amended in 2004. The Section related to Criminal Acts against marriage and family introduced the Article 220 »Violence in the Family and Family Community«. The Criminal Code also have the section related to Criminal acts against sexual freedom.

The Ministry of Justice has prepared the draft Law on Domestic Violence Protection, which is expected to be adopted in 2009. This Law will provide better protection to the victims of violence.

Gender Equality Office of the Government of Montenegro participates every year, since its establishment, in the global campaign »16 days of activism against gender based violence«. The media campaigns were directed to all citizens of Montenegro and included issuance of newsletters in all daily newspapers, broadcasting of radio jingles in different radio stations all over Montenegro and organisation of many conferences/seminars/round tables aimed at finding the best solution for solving of the problem. Montenegro participated in the Council of Europe Campaign on Combating VAW which took place from 2006 till 2008. More about the last years campaign is under the part one of this questionnaire.

Memorandum of Understanding has been signed between all relevant institutions (police departments, courts, prosecution, centres for social work, health institutions and local administration) in five municipalities in Montenegro (Niksic, Podgorica, Berane, Bijelo Polje and Ulcinj). The development of the codes and protocols of all relevant institutions for VAW is envisaged by the Action Plan for the Achievement of Gender Equality. In the Police Directorate – Unit Podgorica (capital of Montenegro) there is a team of three officers/inspectors who are in charge for domestic violence, as of 2007. Beside this in other Police Units there are officers that are dealing with VAW among the work on juvenile delinquency. These units cover all cities in Montenegro.

In the past decade NGOs organised numerous trainings for above mentioned institutions on VAW and gender equality aimed at raising awareness on domestic violence, importance of prevention and effective punishment of perpetrators. For example, insofar, the educational three days seminars on domestic violence were attended by 238 professionals of Police Directorate, including the managing structures. The trainings on development of inter-professional cooperation and joint action were attended by 67 professionals from the Police. Three day seminars on DV were attended by 98 students in the Secondary Police School in Danilovgrad. The Police Academy, within the subject

5 Criminal Law, has an obligatory sequence dealing with domestic violence. As for other professionals, their trainings were mostly organised by NGOs, and great number of them attended. Many of above mentioned representatives of institutions participated also in different events (conferences, seminars, trainings) organised by the Gender Equality Office of the Government of Montenegro, international organisations and NGOs. In Montenegro there is one shelter for women and children victims of violence run by NGO, situated in the capital Podgorica. It was established in 1999. Beside temporarily placement, this organization is providing the victims with medical, psychological, social, legal assistance, assistance in searching for the job, placement in the hospital or other institution, or in some other shelter out of Montenegro. Beside this, there is one shelter for the victims of trafficking in persons, run by NGO and financed by the state (situated in Podgorica), established in 2004. Shelter offers victims of trafficking temporarily placement, as well as free legal, psychological and attorney’s help which they may, and they may not accept (educative and creative workshops are conducted on a voluntarily basis, individual or within the group). Also, the NGO House of Hope, at the end of 2004, has established the office for the assistance to the single mothers and mothers with extramarital children in Podgorica. The aim of the office is to provide legal, psychological, educational and other assistance to the single mothers.

There is one general telephone line operating 24 hours a day by the Police but it covers all calls of the citizens not only for victims of VAW. Specialized telephone line for VAW does not exist at the state level but the NGO SOS telephone Podgorica was established in 1999. With the assistance and training provided by activists/trainers of SOS Hotline Podgorica, other SOS Hotlines are being established in other towns (Centre for girls in Podgorica, SOS Niksic, Bar, Ulcinj, Berane, Pljevlja, Rozaje, Plav and Bijelo Polje), and on January 19, 2001 the Network of SOS Hotlines was created. Centers for social welfare provide free counseling and assistance to the families. There are two multidisciplinary teams that are, beside protection of children, working on domestic violence issue. The Ministry of Justice is preparing the draft Law on Free Legal Advice, and it is expected to be adopted in 2009.

According to the data from the Police, during 9 months in 2008, 372 criminal offences of the domestic violence have been registered. These offences have been submitted to the prosecutors with 369 criminal charges, with 393 persons, out of which 93% are men. Victims of domestic violence are 411 persons, out of which 79% are women.

In Montenegro, there is still lack of sistematic collection of data in all institutions dealing with this issue. Also, there have been only two stratified researches in the past decade regarding this issue. This is something that should be enhanced in the future, and it is envisaged by the Action Plan.

With regard to the trafficking in human beings the Criminal Code stipulates trafficking in human beings as a criminal act. The Office for Antitrafficking is in charge for this issue and finances the Shelter for victims of trafficking, which is run by the Woman NGO. The Memorandum on Cooperation has been signed between State Prosecutor, Ministry of Health, Labour and Social Welfare, Ministry of Education and Science, Police

6 Directorate, National Coordinator’s Office for Combating Trafficking and NGOs in October 2007, aimed at better cooperation in combating trafficking in human beings through prevention, education, criminal prosecution, and protection of victims, in particular women and children.

In the area of women and armed conflict The Gender Equality Office worked on the promotion of the Security Council Resolution 1325. Also, it financed the NGO project aimed at introducing the wider public with the content of the resolution. In October 2008, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Interior and Public Administration and Gender Equality Office of the Government of Montenegro, with partial financial support by OSCE and UNDP Office in Montenegro, organised the International Conference “Women in Security Sector – Resolution 1325 UNSC”. The Conference gathered the representatives from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Slovenia, Serbia, Croatia and Montenegro, as well as representatives of international organisations dealing with this issue. The Conference dealt with the issue of what has been done insofar with regard to the implementation of the Resolution 1325, and made the conclusions and recommendations for the future work in this regard. The Action Plan envisages the training for the personnel in the army and police on the Resolution and gender equality in general, and creation of adequate material in this regard. The Ministry of Defense envisages in their program the trainings and raising awareness on the Resolution 1820 of the Security Council.

The Head of the Gender Equality Office is the member of Regional Lobby for Peace and Security.

In the Ministry of Defense, out of total number of employees 36% are women. Slightly half less are those with university degrees. As for the Montenegro Army there are 26 women soldiers, but out of 923 sergeants only 4 of them are women, while among 396 officers there is no single woman.

In the area of women at the labour market The Employment Law of the Republic of Montenegro in its Article 3 prescribes that every person who applies for a job has to be provided the same access to exercising his/her rights to employment regardless of sex.

The amended Labour Law which was adopted in July 2008 for the first time contains the provision on harassment and sexual harassment. It preserved the rights of pregnant women on parental leave for a period of 365 days. There is a special protection of pregnant women, women who gave birth and nursing a child. It also prohibits direct and indirect discrimination of persons seeking for employment and employed persons.

The National Strategy for Employment and Development of Human Resources (2007- 2011) contains the segment related to the advancement of the employability of women and envisages concrete measures how to reach this goal.

7 The Employment Bureau of Montenegro performs programs for co-education of unemployed people and many unemployed women participate in its realisation. Also, the Bureau provides the credits for self-employment which also women gain. According to their data women are most likely to use these credits appropriately and regularly turn them back. According to Questionnaire about work force, carried out by the Institute for Strategic Studies and Projections in July 2007 results about employment are: - Total number of employees is 218.609, or 87, 4% of all active population. - Employment rate is 51, 7; - Most of employees are employed in service sector, 76, 5% of total number of employees; - Altogether 22, 6% employees is involved in gray economy sector (they work in non-registered firms or as non-registered workers in registered firms); When we observe activity rate of population between 15-65 years by sex, activity rate of women is 49, 2% which is much lower than activity rate of men which is 62,1%. Difference between women and men salaries show that in 2004 women received only 81,7% of income that man received. This information did not include the fact that employed women in average have higher level of education than employed men. In Montenegro only small number of women are property owners, which is the fact that reflects traditional attitude that only man can inherit and own property.

According to the data of Employment Bureau as of February 2008 women participate in the the total number of unemployed with 44,27%, while they are owners or managers in 16% of companies (according to the data of Chamber of Commerce in Montenegro, 2007) .

The research “Social status and quality of life of women and men” 2 show that the payment and security of a working position are equally important to women and men from the research sample. Women most frequently participate in the family budget with 50% at the most and men with more than 50%. Higher level of education increases the participation of women in the family budget. The research showed that women aged 20- 50 have 20% lower chance to own an apartment against men of the same age, and even 40% of women have less possibility to own a house against men of the same age. In average, both women and men spend most of their time at formal work, but men spend even more since they are more employed. Men spend more their time on being with friends and recreation. Altogether, they spend more time on being with friends and recreation than at formal work. The only activity that women spend more time than men are related to house works, on which women spend in average 3.6% hours. If we compile all the activities that can be considered as “work” women work 8.2 hours a day in average, and men 6.6 hours, which means that women work for 20% more than men. At the same time, they contribute to the family budget inversely proportional, just because they do unpaid work.

2 Research carried out in 2007 for the Gender Equality Office, by the Research Center Altera MB

8 In the area of promoting entrepreneurship of women: Strengthening of women entrepreneurs has been mostly performed by non governmental organisations. Centre for Entrepreneurship and Economic Development issued few publications related to the women in the labour marked and in entrepreneurship. Special credit line for women who want to start their own business existed in some banks once but it doesn’t exist any longer.

Gender Equality Office of the Government of Montenegro organised conferences/round tables/seminars on women entrepreneurs aimed at strengthening women to start their own business and issued the publication entitled “Beginner” which contains basic information on how to start own business aimed at strengthening of women to self-employment.

Chamber of Commerce in Montenegro established the Committee for Women Entrepreneurship in 2006, which beside other institutions have the representative of the Gender Equality Office. At the moment, the Committee is working on the establishment of the data base of women entrepreneurs in Montenegro, since there is a lack of these data.

Government of Montenegro has conducted the project “Job for You” in 2008 aimed at stimulating employment, in particular in the north region, through providing credits of entrepreneurship, and support to the entrepreneurship in the agriculture sector. Within this project, the Bureau for the development of small and medium sized enterprises has approved the credit line for 27 projects. For the credit line “Start up”, 7 projects have been approved. 2 of them are run by women, while 5 others are managed by men. For the credit line “Encouragement of Employment”, 14 projects have been approved. Out of this number, the director of 1 project is a woman while other 13 are men. For the credit line “Energy effectiveness”, 6 projects have been approved and all are run by men.

Above mentioned research shows that men are more frequently entrepreneurs than women, and that they used to have own company and then closed it (1.6% of women against 3.8% of men). Young women, as well as women with higher education, are more likely to start their own business, and even 64% of women in the age of 20-29 and 62% of women with higher and university education are ready to open private company under adequate conditions.

In the area of education At all levels of education system, from kindergarten to university, men and women have equal rights and conditions for education. The programs are common and they are designed for both sexes.

New curricula for elementary and secondary school have been reviewed by a special commission whose task was to indicate the possible gender stereotypes in curricula and to propose the way to overcome and eliminate them. All commissions by subjects that have detected stereotypes have eliminated them in compliance with the suggestion of the commission involved in that. Within the subject Civic Education in elementary and

9 secondary education there is topic gender equality. The subject sociology for the high schools in Montenegro is containing the segment related to the status of women in the society and family. The data on pupils in elementary and high schools don’t indicate significant variations in representation of boys and girls at this level of education. • In school year 2006-2007 from altogether 75.116 pupils in elementary schools, 38.937 are boys, or 51, 84%, and 36.179 are girls, or 48, 16%. • In final year of elementary schools, from altogether 8.965 pupils 4.275 are girls, or 47, 69% and 4.690 are boys, or 52, 31%. • The data for high schools are: from altogether 31.571 pupils 15.944 are boys, or 50, 50%, and 15.627 are girls, or 49, 50%. • In final year of high schools, from altogether 7.101 pupils 3.642 are girls, or 51, 29% and 3.495 are boys, or 48, 71%. • In last decade there has been visible progress in inscription of female students (during period 1999/2000 to 2003/2004 from 115 to 157 of all students inscribed) and also lower participation of men among graduated students in universities (from 41,6 to 38,8%). • For school year 2006-2007, 223 scholarships for pupils and students have been approved, for pupils 73 (female pupils 46, or 63%) and for students 150 (female students 109, or 70, 32%). The existence of “Glass Ceiling” for women is present in higher education, on master and PhD studies and also among employees. In preschool institutions, pedagogically-educational and managing jobs women are dominant. In 2006 year in preschool institutions 95, 49% of all employees were women. • Elementary and high schools- 2005/06 year: - 70, 43% women in elementary schools teaching staff (personnel) and 61, 71% in high schools. - 13, 66 principals of elementary schools and 12, 50% principals of high schools.

State Textbook Publishing House of Montenegro realised new generation of text books and in books for nine year elementary schools gender sensitive language has been used. University of Montenegro, in cooperation with Norway University, realized three year program for introducing gender in the teaching programs. Unfortunately, except few researches, one-semester facultative (optional) teaching and one summer school on gender studies, there still aren’t sustainable and visible results of this project. Within NGO “Anima” in Kotor, women study program exist as of 2002 because of necessity to change social status of women and to stimulate women studies in University. Taking into consideration that women/gender studies are not included in the national universities, Governmental Gender Equality Office in cooperation with private University “Mediteran”, is planning to organise in April 2009 the School “Gender Studies” which will last six days and cover different themes on gender equality (Gender and society; Normative-legal framework of gender equality; Gender equality in economy; Gender dymension of creativity and culture, and Education, human resources and gender equality), while the lecturers are eminent foreign and domestic proffesors and experts in this field.

10

In order to take into consideration the role of language in developing awareness about gender equality, the Gender Equality Office organised the round table in 2006, on the usage of gender sensitive language. As a result of that activity the publication “He/she said” was issued and contains the work of linguistic experts and usage of gender sensitive languages.

In the area of women and environment protection The National Strategy for Sustainable Development in Montenegro contains gender sensitive component due to participation of the representative of Gender Equality Office in its development. It is considered important that sustainable development is not possible without equal participation of women and men, which further brings equal benefits for both sexes.

In the area of women in power and decision making According to the Constitution, Montenegrin Parliament consists of 81 deputies. In the current mandate there are 71 men and only 9 women or 11,11%. Only 4 out of 14 political parliamentary parties have women in their parliamentary clubs. The president and vice-presidents of the Parliament are men. In the Government of Montenegro women are represented with 6,25% (only one woman out of 16). For the first time the vice- president of the Government is a woman. Montenegro has 21 municipalities. The mayor of only one municipality is a woman, while in three municipalities women are presidents of local assemblies. In the structure of trade unions women make 40% of its membership. In 1263 trade union organizations (companies and institutions) 329 are women or 26,05%. The Trade Union Council is the largest body between congresses and is made of 72 persons, out of which 12 (16,67%) are women.

Non governmental organisations are constantly conducting programs for female politicians through the project »Women Can Do It«. The positive trend in this regard is that many political parties changed their statutes and programs and made them gender sensitive. There have been many iniciatives in the past decade, by the non governmental organisations and Governmental Gender Equality Office, to include quota for less represented sex in the Electoral Law, but these efforts haven't succeded. These activities will be followed up.

Gender Equality Office organises, as of 2004 in cooperation with foundations »Konrad Adenauer« and »Eduardo Frei«, permanent educations for women in political parties. These programs are run by foreign and domestic lectures and cover different themes linked to gender equality. As the result of this activity, there are even more women in political parties who are sensitive to these issues and implement it in the party.

In the area of women in media The obligation of the media to promote gender equality in their programs and concepts is regulated by the Law on Gender Equality. The Law on Media adopted in 2002 prohibits the publishing of information and opinions that induces discrimination.

11 In Montenegro exists the Code of journalists 3, which in its main principles says: “Journalist is in the service of public interest. Credibility of journalist and journalism as profession is based on professional honesty, integrity and knowledge. It is in interest of every journalist, and it is his/her duty, to stick to the Code.” In the principle 10, of the Code it is stated that “Media shall not reveal the identity of the victims of sexual violence or to publish the material that could contribute the revelation of their identity. Different conduct could be made if the victims are consistent with the revelation of their identity or if the law obliges media to do so.” In the principle 10.2, “Reporting on violence” it is stated “reporting on real or threatening act of violence, media should carefully separate the interest of the public for the information and the interest of victims and other people involved.”

Council of the Agency for radio-diffusion adopted the Decision on minimal program standards in electronic media 4 in Montenegro in May, 2005, that in the article 12 says: “In programs of electronic media it is prohibited the emitting of program contents that promote the belonging to ethnic group, sex or sexual affiliation as a form of discrimination against them”.

Due to small number of female editors in chief, non governmental organisations are conducting trainings for female journalists on gender equality in order to increase their number and to enhance their knowledge on gender equality so that this principle could be included in the media programs. It is visible that media are often willing to cover issue of gender equality in different areas of concern, especially on violence against women during the 16 days campaign. They are more likely to use gender sensitive language recently comparing to the past.

In written media, women are editors in 32,8%, editors in chief in 15.8% and directors in 12.9%. In televisions women are editors in 40.9%, editors in chief in 25% and directors in only 8.3%. 5 Similar situation is with the radio and informative agencies. Out of 143 media in even 82 there is no woman at managing position. 6

However, thanks to the Gender Equality Office and non governmental organizations, there is a certain level of sensibilisation of media for gender issues in Montenegro. Increased number of texts, dissemination of the issue, inclusion in public campaigns, shows that feminisation of media opens the media space for women’s issues.

PART THREE Institutional mechanisms

3 Institute for media of Montenegro (2002), “Journalists’ Code in Montenegro” , Institute for media of Montenegro, Podgorica. 4 Agency for radio-diffusion (2005a), “Decision on minimal program standards in electronic media in the Republic of Montenegro, 26.05.2005” , Agency for radio-diffusion, Podgorica. 5 Gender data for Montenegro, Woman Action, 2003:44 6 Gender data for Montenegro, Woman Action, 2003:38

12 Two institutional mechanisms for the achievement of gender equality have been established insofar in Montenegro. Committee for Gender Equality in the Parliament of Montenegro was established on July 11 th 2001, when the Parliament made a decision on the establishment of the Committee for Gender Equality, as permanent working body in the Parliament with the following mandate: “Committee for Gender Equality considers and monitors the achievement of constitutionally prescribed freedoms and rights of man and citizen related to gender equality”, in particular:

• Reviews draft legislation to ensure the promotion of gender equality, encourages the implementation and realisation of this principle in the laws of the Republic; • Incites and suggests the endorsement of international documents on gender equality and monitors the implementation of these documents in the Republic; • Recommends measures and activities for improvement of gender equality, in particular in areas of education, health, public information, social policy, employment, entrepreneurship, family relations and decision-making processes; • Participates in the development of programs on gender equality that coincide with the European Union’s standards; and, • Cooperates with NGOs dealing with gender equality issues.

Gender Equality Office of the Government of Montenegro has been established by the Decision of the Government of Montenegro on 27 th of March 2003, (Official Gazette number 20/03). The Office performs expert and other tasks related to the implementation of the principle of gender equality and implementation of international conventions and contracts needed for the Government of the Republic of Montenegro, coordinates the activities of governmental bodies from this field and is a partner to NGOs dealing with gender equality issues and women’s human rights. The position of Gender Equality Office is in the General Secretariat of the Government and it is financed by the state budget.

According to the Law on Gender Equality, the Ministry for the Protection of Human and Minority Rights is in charge for gender equality policy, in particular: 1. coordinates all activities aimed at achieving gender equality and participates in preparation and adoption of action plans for the establishment of gender equality in all levels; 2. monitors the implementation of international documents and conventions, as well as adopted standards from gender equality field, undertakes measures for its implementation in the legal system of Montenegro, and creates qualitative monitoring of the respect of those documents; 3. prepares Action Plan, proposes its adoption and monitors its implementation; 4. prepares programs for the implementation of the Action Plan on the basis of reports of organs for areas from their competencies;

13 5. conducts research and analysis on the status of gender equality and analysis needed for the implementation of Action Plan, and data collection within co-operation on national and international level ; 6. prepares reports on fulfilment of international obligations by Montenegro in the field of gender equality; 7. cooperates with local administration bodies and provides assistance for the establishment of mechanisms for the achievement of gender equality on local level; 8. establishes cooperation with non-governmental organisations; 9. undertakes and incites activities on the education on gender equality and organises issuance of publications aimed at promotion of gender equality; 10. investigates complaints of citizens about direct or indirect discrimination based on sex, holds for attitudes and gives opinions and recommendations, and when needed informs Human Rights Ombudsman on existence of discrimination based on sex; 11. submits annual report to the Government on implementation of the Action Plan; 12. performs other tasks related to the implementation of gender equality, in accordance with this Law.

All ministries and state administration bodies appointed the coordinators for gender equality who are very closely working with the Gender Equality Office, and participate in the preparation and implementation of the Action Plan. The Office has already organised several trainings and seminars for mentioned persons and they are participating in all events organised on this issue and contribute from their sector areas towards the promotion and achievement of gender equality.

Gender Equality Office, in cooperation with OSCE Mission to Montenegro since 2004, conducts the project “Gender Equality in Local Community” aimed at strengthening mechanisms for gender equality in municipalities. Insofar, the project covered ten municipalities out of 21 in Montenegro. The focal points in those municipalities have been appointed, who are trained to work on this issue in their respective municipality. Parallel with that the members of local assemblies are educated too on the importance of incorporation of gender equality in all programs and actions of local community. These ten municipalities are right now in the phase of including gender equality in the statutes of assemblies, and some of them are about to open local offices for gender equality. This project is intended to be continued in the future, but in a way to work more closely and intensively with those ten municipalities and then to start working with others in order to make sustainable and effective gender equality mechanisms on local level.

The cooperation with the National Statistical Office (MONSTAT) has been established and strengthened during previous five years, especially during the two year project with Swedish Statistical Office and SIDA, with one part related to the improvement of gender- disaggregated data. This cooperation resulted in few workshops that dealt with this issue and resulted in concrete recommendations on how to improve this statistics. The result of this cooperation is also the issuance of two editions of the book “Women and Men in Montenegro” (issued in 2006 and 2008). Data contained in this publication relate to the following areas: population, health, education, social protection, crime offences,

14 employment and incomes, and politics. The work on gender-disaggregated statistics should be strengthened and improved, and we altogether are working on it.

Activities related to the promotion and advancement of gender equality in Montenegro have been strengthened and improved in the last decade in different sector areas of concern. They were mainly performed by NGOs dealing with this issue and Governmental Gender Equality Office. As for the Parliament Committee for Gender Equality, they are looking at the laws to be passed by the Parliament from gender perspective, but their work and role could be more strengthened. In that regard, the Gender Equality Office organised trainings on gender equality for employees in the Parliament and members of the Committee for Gender Equality and Committee for Human Rights.

Gender equality mechanisms are lacking both financial and human resources, but these capacities are about to be strengthened, which is envisaged by the National Program of Integration of Montenegro into the European Union for the period 2008-2012.

PART FOUR Further actions and initiatives that the Government tends to take in order to fully implement the Platform of Action are contained in the Action Plan for the Achievement of Gender Equality (2008-2012). The priority areas are: European Integration; Education; Health; Violence against Women; Economy and Sustainable Development; Politics and Decision-making; Media and Culture, Institutional Mechanisms for creation and implementation of gender equality policy.

4.1. European integration Strategic Goal: Integrate the gender equality principle in all processes of European integration Goal 4.1.1. Introduce the goals and processes for the achievement of gender equality principle (gender mainstreaming) in all areas and activities of national policy. Goal 4.1.2. Include the European gender equality standards in national legislative.

4.2. Education Strategic goal: Equality between women and men at all educational levels.

4.2.A. Increase the level of education and integration of RAE population in educational system Goal 4.2.1. Increase the number of RAE population in educational system and balanced professional improvement of boys and girls. Goal 4.2.2. Continue the integration of gender access in curriculums, textbooks and additional professional teacher’s improvements. Goal 4.2.3. Integrate the knowledge on gender equality in pre-school institutions, elementary and secondary schools Goal 4.2.4. Encourage the development of gender studies at university level and creation of critical number of experts 4.2.C. Information Communication Technologies

15 Goal 4.2.5. Decrease the digital gap between women and men Goal 4.2.6. Increase the number of ICT literate women, especially Roma and rural women

4.3. Health Strategic Goal: Gender equality in access and usage of quality health services. Goal 4.3.2 Provide the qualitative availability of the health protection of poor, rural, Roma, disabled and non retired women. Goal 4.3.1. Improve access and availability of health protection for women and men. Goal 4.3.3. Improve education on gender sensitive health protection Goal 4.3.4. Improve the gender disaggregated health statistics

4.4. Violence against women Strategic Goal: Eliminate all forms of domestic violence against women and girls Goal 4.4.1. Improve legal frame for protection of violence. Goal 4.4.2. Strengthen the system of women’s protection against violence Goal 4.4.3. Conduct the research and improve the statistics Goal 4.4.4. Integrate the knowledge on violence against women, gender equality and non- violent behaviour in elementary schools. Goal 4.4.5. Conduct the research and data collection on harassment, sexual harassment and sexual abuse. Goal 4.4.6. Raise public awareness on violence against women Goal 4.4.7. Improve the status of single parents and single mothers Goal 4.4.8. Prevention of trafficking in human beings

4.5. Economy and Sustainable Development Strategic Goal: Equal access of women and men to economic resources and creation of equal opportunities in its usage 4.5.A Decrease of unemployment Goal 4.5.1. Increase the women’s employment and decrease the unemployment. Goal 4.5.2 Programs of education and training will be organised aimed at increasing the opportunities for employment of women and men in sectors where are less represented. 4.5.B. Women Entrepreneurship

Goal 4.5.3. Encourage the women’s entrepreneurship Goal 4.5.4 Promote and develop the network of public and private institutions for child care in order to increase the percent of children in the system of child care till the age of obligatory schooling. Goal 4.5.5. Activities towards changing traditional access to property and ownership over property 4.5.C. Gender sensitive budget and sustainable development Goal 4.5.6. Establish the gender sensitive budget Goal 4.5.7. Engender the projects within the implementation of National Strategy of Sustainable Development. 4.5.D. Rural women Goal 4.5.8. Improve the status of rural women

16 4.5.E. Reconciliation of professional and family life Goal 4.5.9. Establish the system in which the reconciliation of professional and family life provides women and men to be professionally active and to participate in public and political life, while at the same time the reconciliation of their family obligations is relieved

4.6. Politics and decision –making Strategic goal: Equal participation of women and men at all decision making levels Goal 4.6.1. Strengthen the under-represented sex in the politics and decision making Goal 4.6.2. Achieve balanced representation of women and men at all levels of legislative and executive power Goal 4.6.3. Increase the participation of women in executive power to an extent with the real impact on decision making, as well as increase participation of women at decision making positions appointed by the government – gender balance during nomination and election will be taken care of. Goal 4.6.4. Develop the strategy for increased number of rural and Roma women in decision making bodies at local level, in accordance with the Article 14 of the CEDAW. Goal 4.6.5. The implementation of the UN SC Resolution 1325 Goal 4.6.6. Tenth anniversary of the adoption of R1325 UN SC

4.7. Media, culture and sport Strategic goal: Achieve gender equality in media and culture, eliminate prejudices, stereotypes and misogyny, and affirmation of women’s creative work 4.7.A. Media Goal 4.7.1. Sensibilisation of media for gender equality issues Goal 4.7.2. Incorporate the educational gender contents in media programs 4.7.B. Culture Goal 4.7.3. Establish gender equality in the culture field Goal 4.7.4. Activate women’s publishing 4.7.C. Sport Goal 4.7.5. Promote the women’s sport and physical activity Goal 4.7.6. Equal valorisation of sport results by women and men and going for sports under the same conditions Goal 4.7.7. Provide equal participation of women at all levels of decision making in sports

4.8. Institutional mechanisms for creation and implementation of gender equality policy. Strategic goal: Establish sustainable mechanisms for the achievement of gender equality Goal 4.8.1. Implementation of the Law on Gender Equality Goal 4.8.2. Strengthen the Gender Equality Office capacities Goal 4.8.3. Strengthen the administration body’s capacities for the implementation of gender equality policies Goal 4.8.4. Develop the cooperation of institutions and civil sector in the process of achievement of gender equality

17 Goal 4.8.5. The institutional mechanisms for the implementation of gender equality in all local administration bodies will be supported

Besides the implementation of the Action Plan for the Achievement of Gender Equality the priorities which Government tends to take to fully implement the Platform for Action are related to the activities on more effective implementation of the Law on Gender Equality, compliance of national laws with those of international from this field, capacity building of current gender mechanisms and establishment of new ones at the local level, and continuance of the cooperation with NGOs dealing with this issue.

HEAD OF THE OFFICE NADA DROBNJAK

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